Why talent branding is becoming necessary

We all know about corporate branding, but does your company have a talent brand?

When you think of the “swoosh” logo, the phrase “Think Different,” or how to find information online, there’s a very good chance that specific companies come to mind. This is thanks to the billion dollar branding efforts of some of the world’s largest companies. Corporate branding is an exercise in leveraging the corporation’s name to create and/or increase their brand recognition. Branding happens at every level of marketing, from logo design, to commercials, and product placement. Every brand tells consumers its own unique story, carefully crafted and managed to reflect the company’s desired image.

While this sounds like Marketing 101, the concept of branding is now applicable to a company’s talent acquisition and retention process. In fact, talent branding is number three in Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends 2013 report.

What is talent branding, anyway?

According to the report, talent branding “requires building leading talent practices and communicating them effectively and consistently. Get it right and the potential of brand convergence can work in your favor.” That is to say, when candidates and employees experience an overall fair and positive experience – at every stage in the employee cycle – it can work to harmonize the company’s overall image with that of its reputation as an employer. In other words, the benefit (the public’s positive perception of the corporation) of all of that investment in the company’s corporate branding efforts can spill over into how potential candidates view the company as a place to work.

Potential candidates will seek you out, rather than the other way around.

Why is talent branding so important?

Because there is a talent shortage. Recovering from the recession, there is a gap between positions that need to be filled and the amount of available talent. Companies must compete in order to attract and retain skilled workers. When a consumer chooses which cola to drink, branding has a definite impact, and when choosing which company to work for, or which job offer to accept, talent branding also becomes critical. How does the candidate perceive your company’s talent practices over your competitor’s? When it comes to workplace experience, what sets your company apart from the rest? How was the recruitment process? The answers to these questions reflect your company’s talent brand. There is a reason why Google receives over 2 million resumes a month, worldwide!

How do you build your talent brand?

A company’s talent brand is a direct result of their talent value proposition, “the framing of the actual experiences of the people who work for you,” according to the report. This entails taking a deep dive into how your company addresses the needs of the different talent segments within the organization, the involvement of leadership in this aspect, and how it’s communicated to candidates, among other factors. Once you’ve addressed these questions, adjust workforce practices so that critical talent has the opportunity to make even more of a contribution to the company and develop professionally.

The new economy and the gap between what companies are looking for versus the available talent means that the competition to acquire skilled workers is fiercer than ever. To set itself apart, a company must take their talent brand into consideration in order to attract the best and the brightest to their recruits.